1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus may be, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine, a laser beam printer, an LED printer, a facsimile system or the like.
2. Related Background Art
In image forming apparatuses such as printers, an image bearing member which was previously uniformly charged is selectively exposed to form a latent image thereon. The latent image is visualized as a toner image which is then transferred onto a recording medium. In such image forming apparatuses, the maintenance of various elements requires an expert service man, and, thus, the user often feels inconvenience.
To avoid this, a process cartridge constituted by assembling an image bearing member, a charger, a developing device, a cleaning device and the like together as a cartridge unit which can be removably mounted to an image forming apparatus by the user has been proposed and put into practical use.
The inventors of this invention have already proposed a new process cartridge (referred to PCT/JP92/00450 filed on Apr. 10, 1992).
The present invention relates to the improvement of such a process cartridge.